Ten Questions with ROBBIE FULKS

Robbie fulks room 2 2016 andy goodwin-2

Robbie Fulks is something of a modern-day folk music legend, whether he knows it or not (but he probably does). He's released 12 albums over the course of 30 years and pretty much defined the alt-country style that Bloodshot Records has become known for, being one of their first acts way back in '93. Those early recordings, made in Chicago, captured Fulks' country-tinged singer-songwriter style even though they were engineered by punkmeister Steve Albini.

Albini is behind the knobs again for Fulks' latest, Upland Stories (2016, Bloodshot), released just last week. The 12-track collection of down-home story songs are rife with clever detail, wry humor and stark observations that capture modern life in rural parts. No doubt he'll be featuring songs from his new record, along with some of his early classics, when he plays Reverb Lounge Saturday for an early "Sunday Roadhouse Presents" preformance.

We asked Fulks to take our Ten Questions survey. Here's how he responded in a way only Fulks can:

1. What is your favorite album?

Robbie Fulks: Upland Stories, the new release from Robbie Fulks.

2. What is your least favorite song?

Bacciagaloop (Makes Love On The Stoop) by Louis Prima

3. What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

The confusion about whether to feel superior to people in straight jobs because I enjoy more freedom or inferior because they outearn me by multiples

4. What do you hate about being in a band?

Constant creation of bastard children

5. What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

Carbon.

6. What city or town do you love performing at?

“At”? As though I’m standing on a hill outside the town and shaking my hips performatively in its direction? Shreveport.

7. What city or town did you have your worst gig (and why)?

Saint John N.B. because the check bounced.

8. How do you pay your bills?

Online.

9. What one profession other than music would you like to attempt; what one profession would you absolutely hate to do?

I would like to try cucumber waxing because something tells me I already have the skills needed. I would hate to be the late-shift counter clerk at Payless Car Rental at LAX because then I would be a miserable incompetent who would be yelled and cursed at by me.

10. What are the stories you've heard about Omaha, Nebraska?

I hear Woodmen Insurance has a lovely and subtle presence in the downtown area, and that many residents are interested in getting out.